


into the void (of the vegetable aisle)

by murakamism



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Grocery Store, M/M, this is silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 19:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3948397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murakamism/pseuds/murakamism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So maybe the man’s much shorter than him, and apparently his hand isn’t passing through Eren like a ghost’s would, but he’s still scary as fuck.</p><p>[two strangers trapped in a grocery store at 3 am au]</p>
            </blockquote>





	into the void (of the vegetable aisle)

**Author's Note:**

> so i originally wrote this for ereri week but it matches none of the prompts so... im posting it now instead.

A door slams shut in the distance, complete with the rattle of chains, and Eren jumps.

He almost knocks over a stack of dog food but it stays upright, thankfully, so he ignores his pumping heartbeat and peeks out of the aisle. The rest of the grocery store is dark and empty. It’s really giving him the creeps, especially with the low hum of the freezers, and okay he is totally _not_ shaking.

Eren hurriedly shuffles out of the aisle and makes his way towards the cashiers with Mikasa’s favorite brand of cereal tucked under his arm. He knows it’s about three in the morning but he ate all of it sometime around midnight, and knowing Mikasa she’ll give him hell for it when she wakes up. Because, you know, you don’t touch someone else’s brand of cereal. Or whatever.

As long as there’s a new box by the time she wakes up he knows he’ll be forgiven and she won’t have him do something embarrassing. Or rather, she won’t have him do _anything_. All the embarrassment is strictly Eren’s.

Ehem. Right. Moving on.

Something rattles in the fridges to his right. Eren practically sprints forward, cereal shaking with every bounce of his step. He pumps his fist into the air when he spots the cash register signs hanging above.

Except that they’re all empty.

“What the hell?” he whispers, slowly walking forward. Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen anyone else shopping around here.

Then again, who the hell grocery shops at three in the morning?

Idiots and creeps, that’s who.

Eren scowls and makes his way to the nearest register. He’s near the exit but it’s still dark with almost all the lights shut off, so he just wants to get out as fast as possible.

He leaves a bill on one of the counters. The change is small enough for him to ignore right now, so he marches up to the exit. Eren places his hand in front of him to push the door open, but slams into the glass instead.

With a huff, Eren pushes the door again. It doesn’t budge. Something rattles outside. He grits his teeth and pulls it instead, with so much force that it jerks loudly.

The noise echoes all throughout the empty store, yet the door remains locked. Eren groans, repositions his arm so he doesn’t crush the cereal box, and peeks outside.

There’s a chain on the other side of the door. Great.

Locked door. No cashiers. Lights turned off. Empty. Equals...

He’s somehow been locked into the grocery store at three in the morning.

Mikasa’s going to kill him.

Eren groans and gives the door a childish kick. He winces at the contact and stumbles backwards, sighing.

“C’mon, Eren,” he tells himself loudly. It’s not like there’s anyone else left to hear. Come on. He is definitely not talking out loud to distract himself. You know, just in case there are like, angry ghosts in the dark. If they’re hungry they have many more delicious choices than a stupid college student who makes bad decisions.

“It’s not that bad,” he concludes, voice sharp and abnormally loud in the silence. He sighs and looks back into the dark outlines of the food aisles.

Yeah, he’s still all alone in here.

The idea hits him suddenly, and he grins as soon as he remembers. Eren fishes his phone out of his pocket—the time reads 3:16, damn—and wonders who to call.

Armin? Would he know what to do? Definitely not Mikasa. Who would know what to do in a situation like this?

Police?

No, that would be pushing it... It’s not like the grocery has a hotline or anything right? And even if it did, what number is it?

He decides to call Armin.

Eren presses the phone to his ear, straining to hear any sounds of his friend picking up. It rings for about eight times before Armin picks up with a sluggish “What?”

“Hey!” Eren replies, voice too cheery for the time and his current predicament. But Armin’s voice reminds him that there is still an outside world, that there are people who can get him out of here before he gets sucked into the void of the vegetable aisle air-conditions or something.

“So, Armin, I’m sorry for waking you up but I have a problem...” Eren trails off with a nervous chuckle. Armin doesn’t even sound amused or surprised, only sighing back. He’s kind of used to this, yeah.

“Do you need me to pick you up from jail?” Armin asks sleepily. Eren can imagine him rubbing his forehead, eyes gritty with sleep.

“That’s the first thing you assumed?! No, no way, man. I haven’t been arrested.” Eren pauses. “But I got locked into the Trost Grocery Store. I have no idea what to do.”

There’s a pause.

“You got locked in a grocery store at three a.m.,” Armin muses, voice flat.

“Yes, I did.”

“Okay.”

“Yep.”

Armin sighs. Something shuffles around from his end of the line. “Well, I’m looking... but they don’t really have a number that would be helpful to you right now. I’ll try to find something. Why don’t you look for a fire exit?”

“A fire exit?” Eren glances around. No fire exits in sight. “Good idea. I’ll look for one.”

“Trost opens at seven a.m. anyway. If it all fails you’ll have to wait four hours.”

“Armin!”

Armin snorts softly. “Go find your fire exit. I’ll try calling someone. And please don’t go shopping at this time of the night ever again.”

Eren laughs. “Yes, sir. Thanks, Ar.”

“Good luck, Eren.”

Armin disconnects the call and Eren shoves his phone back into his pocket with newfound courage. Of course there has to be a fire exit in here somewhere. He’ll get out and things won’t be so bad.

It’s not the worst thing he’s done at weird hours of the night either.

Eren struts purposefully through the aisles, sticking close the extreme sides. He scans the walls for doors and glowing fire exit signs. So far, the darkness of the place isn’t really helping.

He uses his phone as a flashlight and illuminates the spaces in front of him, humming a song below his breath.

After continuing on for two more songs—well, one and a half considering he only knew the chorus of the second—Eren starts to get that creepy feeling again. He knows it’s stupid because he’s alone in here, and besides, what can attack him from a locked grocery store? Ghost of expired milk? Poltergeist of kid wanting candy but being denied their request? Fellow zombie college student just wanting a snack at this early hour?

Eren furrows his brows and continues searching. So far, nothing, absolutely no fire exits. He laments at the lack of such a safety feature, really, how did this thing get a building permit? But okay, he’s just grumbling now.

Right as he’s about to turn a corner loud bangs start to ring through the air. It sounds vaguely like metal hitting metal and metal hitting the tiled floors.

Eren squeaks.

He darts behind a shelf and shuts off the light from his phone.

There’s silence.

He peeks out into the aisle, holding out the cereal box like a shield.

Don’t investigate, Eren, he tells himself. That’s what stupid people in horror movies do. You’re going to die in a fucking _grocery store_. Jean will never let you live it down when you see each other in hell. You haven’t even cleared your search history! You’ve never fallen in love! You haven’t moved out of your parents’ house!

A muffled voice makes its way out of the shelf. It’s low and snappish, and Eren pretty much pales there and then.

He darts away in a random direction, cereal box held against his chest. There’s a shelf in the way and he slips to the side, hurrying towards another direction.

It’s the direction towards the source of the noise. This only hits him at the last moment. Literally.

Eren slams hard into something.

He gets thrown backwards, his feet slipping on the tiles. He sprawls, flat on his ass and the cereal box still in his fucking arms.

There is a man looming over him, with dark hair and angry piercing eyes that stare right into Eren’s weak soul. The man’s dressed entirely in black so for a moment Eren’s convinced that he’s only half-formed.

Eren screams.

“I’m sorry! I promise I put a bill on the counter!” He yells, scrambling away. Right as he stands up there’s a sharp tug at the back of his shirt and he almost crumbles to the ground again.

The man supports him, prevents him from falling, but now they’re almost eye to eye. Eren shivers under his glare.

So maybe the man’s much shorter than him, and apparently his hand isn’t passing through Eren like a ghost’s would, but he’s still scary as fuck.

“Relax, don’t shit your pants,” the man says, his tone gruff. He releases Eren and the brunet stands upright, willing his legs not to shake. That tone of voice could be intimidating, but Eren can feel his fears start to abate. This guy is not a ghost, no way. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to scream in people’s faces?”

Eren frowns, because why is this man so calm? Eren thought he was going to _die_ , you know. Why is this man so horribly rude?

Forget ghost, maybe he’s a demon.

Eren huffs.

“I thought you were a ghost.” He says.

The man raises a brow. A little light floods into the aisle. It’s minimal enough that Eren can see the vague shape of the man’s face and the slope of his nose, but it also casts an eerie glow on him, especially with the way he looks at Eren with such a deadpan expression.

“I’m not a ghost,” the man tells him.

“Yeah, I can see that now.” Eren replies. He furrows his brows. So there’s someone else locked into this stupid grocery store at three in the morning. It shouldn’t make him as happy as it does.

The man doesn’t even look surprised that Eren’s in here at this hour. At least there’s that.

“What was that loud noise I heard?” Eren asks. The man’s nose wrinkles slightly—Eren is _not_ awed by this tiny detail on such a scary-looking man, no way—and he shrugs.

“I accidentally knocked an entire shelf over.” He says with forced nonchalance. Eren blinks in disbelief.

“Well, kid,” the man gestures behind him, probably towards the collapsed shelf. “I’m going to go clean it up. Don’t scream at the next person you see unless they’re going to kill you, or else they just might.”

“Oh-kay.”

This is just so surreal, Eren thinks, because when the man turns around he mutters something under his breath. Then the light from the meat aisle settles on his back, and wow, this scary man has a really nice ass.

Eren gulps.

“Uh,” he runs after the man. The man looks at him curiously, but maybe it’s more of a _why the fuck are you still talking to me_ look. Eren can’t tell. “Do you know how to get out of here?”

The man raises his brows.

“The exit’s right behind you. Just keep heading straight.” He turns away then, but Eren perks up.

“Yeah, no. It’s locked. We got locked in.”

The man turns towards him, brows furrowing together. They finally make it to the collapsed shelf, and Eren sees a bunch of tin cans on the floor. The man scoops them up and places them back on the shelf with a click of his tongue.

He takes one can in his hand and looks at Eren with narrowed eyes. Eren’s eyes flick down towards the can briefly, and he sees that it’s some kind of tea brand.

“What do you mean?” the man asks.

“The front door is locked. I couldn’t get out.” Eren tells him, frowning. “I’ve been looking for a fire exit.”

The man shakes his head. He brushes past Eren and makes his way towards the front of the store, huffing. Eren trots after him, sniffing. It’s not his fault that this man doesn’t believe him, right?

They stomp—well, the man stomps and Eren takes wide strides—their way towards the exit.

The exit comes into view, and the man hurries up towards it. He pushes the door open but it doesn’t budge. He continues pushing and pulling against it. The chains on the outside rattle.

When he looks away, narrowing his eyes at Eren, the brunet only shrugs.

“Fire exit,” Eren pipes, and the man drops the tin of tea on a nearby cash register.

“Let’s find that damn fire exit.” He says. He’s taking this awfully well.

Eren grins and almost skips down the aisles.

 

 

They wander down the aisles, near the walls, all over for another hour or so. Eren groans.

“How does this place not have a fire exit?” he asks, irritated. They’re close to having made the rounds all over the place, and there are still no exits in sight.

“Keep looking,” the man tells him.

They continue on in silence, the only sounds of the freezers humming and their footsteps against the floor. Eren glances at the man from the corner of his eye every now and then. The man’s still stoic and intimidating, but he’s really cute, and he hasn’t tried to maim Eren in the dark, so that’s a pretty good bonus too.

“If you have something to say, spit it out,” the man says, looking at him. Eren leans back, swallowing.

“Ah, well, what’s your name?” he asks with a smile. He’s trying to be really normal about this, and he hopes that his grin is visible through the limited lighting. “I’m Eren.”

“Levi,” the man replies.

Eren grins, mouthing his name. “Levi. That’s a nice name.”

The man, Levi, mumbles something that sounds like “thanks”. He turns away, his gaze distracted, and Eren grins.

Well, maybe this isn’t so bad after all.

 

 

“What will we do if we don’t find a fire exit?” Eren asks. Levi’s holding his phone out this time, the LED light showing nothing but plain walls and plastic shelves and packaged food.

“Make our own,” Levi replies back.

“You mean break through the doors?”

The man shrugs. The light shines on metal, and as Levi scans the room the light reveals grocery carts stacked together.

Eren puts a hand on Levi’s wrist to stop him. Levi looks up at him.

“So, if you were locked in a grocery store at three in the morning... What would you do?” Eren asks him, grinning. Levi meets his own gaze and frowns.

“I’d try to find my way out. I have other things to do—“

“Well, _I_ want to ride some grocery carts through the aisles. Do you want me to push you? That would be really fun, Levi. Come on, we won’t knock anything down.”

“That’s a terrible idea.”

Eren’s already pulling away two carts from their piles. Levi frowns but Eren positions one of the carts to face into a dark aisle. He drops the cereal into the cart and hums.

“I’ve always wanted to try this,” Eren says, practically bouncing in place.

“If you break your neck I’m not carrying you out of here,” Levi says, tone monotonous, and Eren laughs.

“Can you even carry me, though?” he looks down at Levi purposefully, as if judging his height even though he’s just taking a good look at this beautiful man in front of him, and Levi practically bristles.

“I can carry you to your fucking grave—“

“Race you in one, two, three!”

Eren runs forward, pushing the cart with both hands. He steers it away from a display jutting out and then grins, the wheels squeaking underneath him. He slowly puts a foot down and then another on the shelf at the bottom of the cart. He almost falls off but manages to balance himself upright.

He grips the handle tight and swings through, releasing a whoop as he rides down the long aisle. The sensation is almost like flying and Eren laughs out into the darkness.

Something in the distance begins to look more and more solid. As Eren nears he realizes that it’s a stack of paper towels, but he still sails towards it with great speed. The wheels turn noisily and he puts down a foot to slow down his descent, but he miscalculates and crashes into the stack anyway.

Eren collapses into the pile—it’s pretty soft, luckily—but his knee slams painfully into the metal railing of the grocery cart. The cart flies away into the distance, slamming against a shelf and knocking down bars of soap.

When he tries to get up he winces, knowing that a bruise will form somewhere on his thigh. A paper towel falls onto his head, bounces off, and he groans.

Wheels squeak nearby. Eren looks up and sees Levi very slowly, very carefully, riding his own cart. He manages to stop safely in front of Eren by putting a leather shoe-clad foot down.

The man raises a brow, unimpressed, and Eren laughs. The man descends the cart and kicks away a towel roll that gathers near his foot.

“Oh my god, you rode it too!” Eren says. He moves his arms to get up but only knocks down more paper towels instead, and he has to wait until they stop raining down on his lap before he can talk.

“I didn’t ride it the entire way like some idiot,” Levi says. He reaches out a hand towards Eren and the brunet blinks.

The man looks at him levelly, but there’s a hint of something light in his eye that puts Eren at ease. He grins and takes Levi’s hand. Levi pulls him up with too much force and they almost topple over, but Eren catches himself and Levi places a hand on his forearm to steady him.

Eren grins at the man, his chest ready to burst with another laugh. Levi is looking at him with an expression Eren can’t decipher, but it looks more amused than irritated, so Eren grins.

Levi’s hands are steady at his arms. Eren wants to say something but gets distracted by how close Levi’s face is. His eyes have gotten used to the darkness and sparse lighting.

The man’s eyes are small but focused completely on him. Eren’s mouth is suddenly dry.

“You’ve made such a mess,” Levi says, not breaking eye contact. Eren opens his mouth to speak but only produces a strangled noise. Levi looks unimpressed. He finally looks behind Eren and frowns.

“Go stack those back up.”

Eren sighs but turns around anyway. He tries to hide the blush that he can feel spreading through his cheeks and the back of his neck. Ogling Levi right now is a bad idea, a really bad idea. Why is this even happening?

He begins to stack the towels up pitifully. There are too many of them rolling around but eventually Levi crouches down and helps him quietly. They work in silence for a while, and Eren is much too aware that Levi doesn’t have to sit _that_ close.

Well, it’s not like Eren dislikes it.

They finish faster than Eren expects them to finish. He sighs and looks at the stack.

“Good as new,” he says, and Levi smacks him lightly on the shoulder.

“Let’s continue looking for that exit.” The man suggests, and Eren nods along.

 

 

Levi holds the light this time, after mumbling something about Eren being too irresponsible about it. Eren’s about to open his mouth to retort when something dark scuttles on the floor, near the edge of their light, and the brunet squeaks.

The figure darts away. Eren grips Levi’s sleeve and the man sighs in response. He definitely doesn’t lean towards Eren, no, that’s just Eren’s imagination, right?

Then again, Levi doesn’t explicitly tell him to let go either.

“What was that?” Eren whispers, voice utterly small. Levi snorts and shines the light all over the floors, the walls, the shelves. Something squeaks next to him, and Eren yelps, lifting his legs.

“It’s just a rat,” Levi tells him, brows furrowing in distaste. The rat scurries away from them, hiding near Eren’s legs. The brunet takes a step away from the creature and stands near Levi. Almost near enough to bury himself in the man’s side.

“There’s a rat in the grocery store. That’s disgusting,” Levi says, following the thing with his gaze. Eren frowns.

“It’s... big.” He says.

“Because it’s a rat, not a mouse,” Levi tells him. “And chances are it’s not alone. Well, I’m never getting my food from here again. I can’t believe this shit. Drop that cereal, kid, it might be contaminated.”

“It’s unopened, you know,” Eren snaps. The rat stares at them warily, its tail in the air, and the brunet gets goose bumps. What the hell. Is that rodent challenging them? Honestly?

Levi tugs at Eren’s shirt softly.

“Let me go. I’ll scare it away.” He says with his gaze on the rodent. Eren releases him but doesn’t step back.

Levi steps forward, his eyes narrowed. The rat only looks up at him from its spot underneath a shelf. Levi shines the light at it and kicks at the air with his foot.

“Get out of here,” he says. “Out, go away, you stupid rat.”

The rat sniffles at them.

Levi narrows his eyes even further.

“What, you want to be squashed—“

“Levi, let it go,” Eren says. Even he’s starting to feel freaked out by this little thing. It’s just... staring at them. What’s up with that? “Let’s just leave.”

Levi doesn’t listen to him. The man makes another shooing gesture, and then something bangs in the distance. Chains rattle, and Levi and Eren both look up. The rat darts away.

“What was that?” Eren asks. He steps towards Levi and peeks through an aisle. A faint white light shines from the distance.

“Hello?” someone yells. “Is anyone here? I got a call that someone was locked in. Hey!”

Eren sprints out into the aisle. He practically waves at whoever is there.

Levi follows after him slowly.

Eren spots a man in the distance. The man’s flashlight shines on him and Eren and Levi both squint, Levi more so.

“We’re here!” Eren cries out.

“Two of you?” The man asks, although he doesn’t seem that curious. He seems more grumpy and tired than anything. Eren doesn’t blame him. He grins sheepishly, embarrassed but thankful. Armin is an angel.

“You better not steal anything.”

“I left a bill on the counter for this, really!”

 

 

The man kicks Eren and Levi out, grumbling all the while as he locks up. When he walks away he spares both of them another glance. Levi’s too tired to match his glare with his own, so he looks at Eren instead.

Eren turns to Levi and laughs, scratching the back of his head. He really needs to thank Armin. He shoots his friend a quick, happy and emotional text. Armin will get it later whenever he wakes up, Eren is sure.

“We need to thank my friend for that,” he says. Levi hums, crossing his arms over his chest.

They stand underneath a streetlamp. Flies buzz near the bulb and every now and then a car speeds past, but for the most part it’s still too early to be up and awake.

Levi scrutinizes Eren. Eren smiles back, wondering why Levi’s staring at him so intently. Levi is much more attractive under light, it seems, and Eren swallows because those silver eyes are practically holding him up in place.

Under the man’s shirt Eren can see bulges of muscle and he looks up quickly, back to Levi’s face. Levi smirks, his lips barely twitching, yet Eren sees it clear as day.

So maybe he did catch Eren trying to check him out, but what the hell is Levi doing anyway? Eren shuffles nervously, moving his weight from one foot to another, his lip extended in a pout.

They’re having some sort of impromptu silent staring contest, and Eren doesn’t want to lose but it’s really difficult because his heart starts beating faster and wow, why is he so nervous all of a sudden?

“Hey, let’s go grab some breakfast,” Levi says, his voice smooth. It almost sounds sultry, and Eren convinces himself that it’s just because Levi is attractive and it isn’t because Eren is imagining things because he’s thirsty as fuck.

Which isn’t exactly false, but, you know.

“Sure,” Eren chirps, even though it’s probably way too early for breakfast. And then he smiles, because now he feels giddy and it’s probably the nerves getting to him. “But only if you give me your number afterwards.”

Levi snorts. “Have I made that good an impression on you already, _Eren_?”

The way he says Eren’s name makes the brunet clam up.

“You could easily top it,” Eren says.

“I could top something else,” Levi replies, winking, and Eren almost chokes on his own saliva. He clutches Mikasa’s cereal box tighter in his hands and god damn it; he’s still holding the stupid thing.

“Buy me some breakfast first, you perv,” Eren says seriously. Levi chuckles, amused, then turns away and looks over his shoulder. Eren walks up to him, tentatively links their arms. Levi doesn’t shrug it off, but he doesn’t move closer either.

Still, Eren smiles.

“I want pancakes,” Eren declares.

“Pancakes and cereal, what a red-blooded man’s breakfast,” Levi muses. Eren bumps his hip against the man’s.

“The cereal is my sister’s!” That he ate, but, well.

“Of course,” Levi says. “C’mon, I know a breakfast place that isn’t entirely uncivilized.”

Eren hums happily.


End file.
